


Picture It

by cuddlingqueen



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-17 22:03:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3545366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlingqueen/pseuds/cuddlingqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“all I want for Christmas is you” + presents</p>
            </blockquote>





	Picture It

**Author's Note:**

> This was intended to be a sweet, happy drabble, but then it took on a life of its own. Oliver is still gone and Felicity spends Christmas Eve with Diggle. I sincerely apologize. Come drown in the feels. Requested by saviourhale.

Starling City was beautiful at Christmastime. The streetlights were decorated with wreaths, and red and green lights were strung throughout the city. There was always some snow at Christmas, after all, Seattle was pretty far up north.

Felicity always enjoyed Christmastime. Yes, she was Jewish, but that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy all the snow and the pretty lights.

This year she didn’t feel much like celebrating. Heck, she had forgotten about it. Even if she didn’t celebrate Christmas per say, she still celebrated the holiday with people who did. It was still nice to exchange presents with people she cared about. She didn’t realize it was Christmas until John said it.

The foundry was quiet. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Felicity sat in her usual chair, with her usual earpiece and usual dress. She went there every night since Oliver had left. Each day she hoped it would be the one that he would come back.

Of course, she wasn’t alone. Roy or Digg or even Laurel would always check up on her. They took turns, knowing that she didn’t really want to be alone, even if she said she did. Sometimes they would stay for 5 minutes, or an hour, or even two, but eventually they would leave, and Felicity would stay and shut down her computers at the end of the night.

It was Digg’s turn tonight: Christmas Eve. He stayed for hours. They didn’t even talk about much really; Felicity always asked about Sara, and there was usually a funny story to go along with it. That took up the first 5 minutes. The rest of the time though, he would watch Felicity write a program on her computer, or use the time to work out, or even go on a small mission. It wasn’t until midnight that he spoke again.

“Merry Christmas, Felicity.”

She turned around in her chair, blinking to keep away her tiredness.

“What?”

“I said, Merry Christmas.”

He could see the gears turning in her head as she took in this new information. _Had she really forgotten about Christmas?_

“Oh, John… why are you here?” She asked a question she already knew the answer too. But she still couldn’t believe that he wasn’t with his family on Christmas Eve. He had a child now, surely he wanted to be with her. “You don’t need to…”

“Yes, I do.”

“I’m ok.”

“No, you’re not,” he said, very calmly. He didn’t yell at her. It was more like stating a fact.

She really couldn’t argue with him. Of course she wasn’t. She had lost the one person who meant the most to her. The love of her life.

“Besides, if I wasn’t, I couldn’t give you this.” He brought his hand out from behind his back. He was holding a present, a square box about a foot big. It had a big red bow on top: classic.

She rose from her chair slowly and walked over to him, shaking her head.

“I didn’t get you anything, I’m sorr—“

He waved her off. “It’s not from me.”

He handed the present over to her. On top there was a sticker. It read, “To: Felicity, From: Oliver.”

She felt her knees grow weak. A million questions filled her head. She felt nauseous. The first one that made it out though was: “How is this possible?”

John reached for her arm and led her over to the Oliver’s bed. It was the only place in the Arrow cave where two people could sit next to each other. They really needed to buy more seating…

“About a month ago, Oliver came to me asking for help. I told him that buying a present a month before a holiday was pretty early, but he insisted that he wanted to get it right. We finally settled on this, but he didn’t know where to hide it. After all, he’s practically been living in this place. So I told him I’d hold onto it…”

She took in his story, trying not to show the tears welling up in her eyes. She also realized, this was the first time she and Diggle had talked in a really long time. Yes, they had their little anecdotes. But this, this was real talk. This was from the heart. This was the first time they had really talked about Oliver since he had been gone. She noticed how tired he looked… how many times had he visited her in the foundry? She had lost count. Suddenly the days were adding up in her head. Time was moving forward again.

“…The poor guy didn’t even know how to wrap a present properly.”

She let out a little laugh at the last comment. He smiled at her. He hadn’t seen her laugh in so long.

She took apart the present so carefully: first the bow, then the tape, then the paper. She wasn’t someone who would tear open a present. At least not one from Oliver.

She opened the box. Inside there was lots of tissue. She reached in, still so careful. She reached something solid and pulled it out.

It was a picture frame.

Not just any picture frame. This one was different. It had a metallic blue frame. Inside, there was a picture of her and Ray. She was wearing that blue couture dress that she liked so much. It made her sad to look at it now. She’d spent that night with Ray, not Oliver. Now, she’d give anything to have one more night with him.

“Turn it over.” Diggle knew this was the part that would get to her. He wrapped his arm around her.

There was a note on the back: “I just want you to be happy.”

“Oh, Oliver…” she whispered. Her head tilted to the side.

She held it together a few seconds longer.

“All I want for Christmas is you.”


End file.
